Thankful For
by ally4054
Summary: While out with his friends Will thinks about how he is thankful for everything that he has, for everyone he has in his life. Little one-shot for the Holidays!


_Ok, I was in the Holiday spirit and wrote a little one-shot for the Holidays. It's a little choppy ,I know, but I thought it was kind of cute. Anyway, It doesn't specify any certain holiday, because a lot of different people celebrate a lot of different holidays. So I based this story on being thankful for what you have, and just the thought of togetherness and love._

_Alright, that's all I have to say (I think) _

_READ RELAX AND ENJOY!_

_

* * *

_

The sky was brilliant shades of reds and oranges as Will and Alyss made their way down the flat main road into the town. There was a light dust of snow that was sprinkled on the grass, but not sufficient for anything that the younger children did in the snow. A slight breeze stirred the cold air around, turning everyone's cheeks a light shade of pink.

All the streets were busy and crowed as they always were during the later hours of the day as people got ready to close or go for dinner. Which was exactly where Will and Alyss were heading, not having anything going on and being such a dull time of the year, they had made plans at Jenny's restaurant.

Not alone, Horace was in Redmount for one of his sessions teaching at the battle school. Halt and Pauline were joining them, as well as Gilan who had coincidently come for a visit at this time. Surprisingly George was able to pull away from his work and join them as well, and then they would, of course, convince Jenny to sit down and at least take some time to talk, if not eat with them.

Alyss had concluded if Gilan would be there it wouldn't be too hard to convince her, most of them had observed the shy crushes they had on each other.

Walking in the heavy wooden oak door with nicely oiled hinges Will immediately spotted everyone seated at a large table, that was actually two put together, towards the back of the room.

Halt raised a hand slightly in case they weren't noticed and Will carefully lead Alyss through the growing crowd of customers.

Everyone exchanged greetings, including mostly of hugs, as the close friends were glad to be with each other again.

Will and Alyss took their seats in the middle of the table on the far side. Horace sat next to Will on the left, and George on the right of Alyss. On the other side of the table Lady Pauline and Halt were sitting next to each other closest to the left with Gilan to the right and a seat for Jenny on his right.

They talked for some time, exchanging news about themselves, and telling stories, even stopping to talk about the weather.

"How's the weather treating you Halt," Horace couldn't help but add, to which he received a cold, but somehow good natured glare, and a whole lot of muttering. Everyone laughed, even George who hadn't really known Halt.

"I wonder where Jenny is," Will wondered out loud, they had been there quite a long time but she hadn't shown up.

"I told her we were all coming around tonight," Alyss informed.

"Perhaps she forgot, I'll go check."

"Will, I wouldn't do that," Horace added slowly, "I think you would know that Jenny won't like it if you interrupt her during something, and these days she's a pro with that wooden ladle."

Shaking his head with a rueful smile on his face Will shadowed across the room to the doors leading to the kitchen. After asking a blonde haired kitchen boy if Jenny was there tonight, and receiving a yes, he asked if he could fetch her.

Knowing the Ranger, as he visited frequently, the aid went to go find the Mistress.

Looking back at the table where everyone sat he watched as they continued in conversation, where George was making a couple hand gestures as he talked.

Amused Will watched as he waited for Jenny to come out of the kitchen, and after a couple minutes the door let out a slight squeak as it opened and Jenny walked out. Her pretty, frizzy, blonde hair tied behind her head and her bright blue eyes shining in the light of a large chandelier above them.

As Will turned to greet her, the wooden ladle she held in her head came around a wacked him in the head, and he flinched back slightly.

Staring at her startled, as she told him not to interrupt her, he heard Horace's deep laughter echoing from across the room and he looked back to see the warrior watching them through his laughter.

Then suddenly Jenny came and embraced him in a friendly hug, "It's great to see everyone here," She mused after letting go of Will and gazing across the room.

Quickly and skillfully she seemed to glide through the crowded room full of the occupants and all the tables and chairs, with Will following closely behind.

Will couldn't help but smile when Horace gave him the look that just yelled, _told you so._

There dinner continued in the way only close friends could, and for not the first time Will was thinking about how thankful he was to have these people around him.

They were some of his closest friends, and he considered them practically family. Even George, who he rarely saw, was much like family to him, he grew up with him after all.

Glancing around the table he smiled warmly to himself. There was Halt, of course, his mentor, and almost his father, one of the people he was most thankful to have, then there was Pauline, who he was like a motherly figure to him. She was married to Halt, and she cared for him deeply, he knew, and he cared about her.

Gilan was like a brother, as was Horace, he could always count on them, they were both so important and they were both amazing people.

Jenny and George he didn't see as often, but he grew up with him and that gave them a special connection to him, and he felt like he knew them enough for him to think of them as family, and he did.

Last, but certainly not least was Alyss, she was, well, she was…was everything. He loved everything about her, her smile, her laugh, the way she walked, everything. There weren't enough words to describe what she was in his life.

Then there were the people that weren't even there, that maybe he didn't consider family, but were friends, people that he knew. Evelyn, Malcolm, Erak, Gundar, all of his friends in Skandia, or even Arrida.

He was grateful for the life he lived, not only the people he had. The smile that he gained from those thoughts stayed with him for the rest of the dinner and as they walked out into the cold he was surprised to see the ground covered in white.

'It's snowing!" Horace said excitedly, and so it was, the thick layer of snow that covered the ground was thick enough to cover the top of everyone's foot, and it was still coming down. The soft white flakes were coming down hard and lay lightly and silently on the already building piles of the cold frozen droplets.

Suddenly, through the flurry of the snow, Will sent a snowball sailing through the air straight into Horace.

Smilingly devilishly Will watched as Horace reached down and grabbed a handful of snow, packing it into a tight ball, but while Will had the element of surprise Horace did not and Will was able to duck as it flew towards him.

Halt who had tried to ignore Will's childish behavior didn't notice the snowball that Horace had thrown that as Will ducked whacked straight into him.

Soon everyone had been hit, and was engaged in a snowball fight; even Lady Pauline threw a couple of snowballs, and Will smiled as he confirmed himself about being thankful for everyone around him.

* * *

_Like I said, choppy, but it's the thought that counts. Anyway, it was about 11 when I started this, so if I have any spelling errors my computer didn't pick up. Sorry. _

_So that's it, review if that pleases you, make that my holiday gift. :)_

_Well, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!_


End file.
